News of a new Google service that takes aim at eBay has been leaked. The service, called Google Base, would allow people to sell goods and services without paying for advertising. Google has also confirmed that it is working on an on-line payment service, but denies that that service will compete with PayPal. (Editor's comment: Cough cough. And Google Talk won't compete with Skype either.)

Google's official statement is as follows:

"We are testing new ways for content owners to easily send their content to Google," the Mountain View, California-based company said in a statement. "We're continually exploring new opportunities to expand our offerings, but we don't have anything to announce at this time."

The Internet giant's reputation is so strong, that this "non-announcement" has already generated enough buzz to send Google's stock higher, while adversely effecting eBay. eBay shares fell $1.41, or 3.6%, to $38.01, while Google shares broke the $356 mark in after-hours trading.

Not too long ago, I posted an article entitled "Whose Internet Is It Anyway?" The answer, apparently is....Google.

i still like ebay, plus ebay is world wide - unless google will be doing that too but google sure has been doing a lot this past year - so much in so little time - i wonder when they will be making their own computers with preinstalled Google OS

There are many who don't like or trust Microsoft, and I don't know how alone I am in this, but I don't like or trust Google. Much of its revenue comes from advertising, and with so many advertisers being responsible for spyware, malware and the like, it's a bit hard for me to trust someone who'd get in bed with parasites.....laying down with dogs and getting up with fleas, so to speak. I no more trust an advertiser than I would an ambulance chasing lawyer who'd push you in front of a moving vehicle in order to represent you in court.

Yep, you guessed it, I got burnt by advertising (once), as so many have, by some smart mouthed asshole trying to sell something, knowing full well its shonky crap and there's no after sales support or warranties. I cannot, do not trust or advertisers full stop, particularly when they stoop so low as to covertly infect peoples expensive PC's with highly invasive bots that balls up their entire system and turns it to mush Should be a criminal offence......punishable by something equally nasty.

My rant for the day.

Nearly forgot....I totally hate those highly repetitive infomercials on TV. They're an insult to one's intelligence.......'like I didn't hear that the 1st, 2nd, 3rd or umpteenth times' You wait and wait for some real product information to make a more informed decision, but it never arrives.

I'm probably alone in liking both Microsoft and Google. Microsoft kick started this whole industry that I love and while I have a lot of issues with both companies, I would think that would be normal. The companies were not setup to please me personally.

Google does have this amazing talent to sneak under the radar in what it does. No one seemed to bat an eyelid when they launched google images which encouraes the ripping of any major image from copyrighted sites across the globe. And I thought software that profited from helping piracy and copyright violations was illegal now. No one said much about Google being the first company to use a 5 year cookie, tracking users in ways that would immediately raise alarm bells if a company like Microsoft tried to do that.

If you delve into Microsofts Channel 9, it is really hard not to like the staff who are one hell of a talented bunch of really creative people who love making software. It's silly to think that a company that caught or even kick started the first wave would not continue to surf it and build on it for all its worth.

Google and Microsoft will make worthy opponents and while Google has some huge momentum right now, Microsoft are also really kicking into gear and drawing on a lot more experience to get their products into a kind of shape that can keep them on top. Office 12 is a great example of how MS is really innovating now rather than reurgitating the same tried, tested and oh so dated formulas.

Some things Google just isnt good at, and never will be. Ebay has a good, solid core and reputation, and it may be impossible to beat.

The same with Microsoft. They're good at Office products and Operating Systems. If they didnt get a good search engine built into Windows, how did they think they can do Internet search? Google is for that.

It's best to use lots of separate products that do a really good job instead of trying to pack it into one.